Leisure … more than a word, it's a lifestyle

Friends Don’t Let Friends … Stay in Hotels!

It’s time to enter our Summer Sweepstakes and win a  4 Night Orlando Vacation in a Florida Leisure Vacation Home.  It’s dead easy to enter and all you have to do to enter is go to www.Facebook.com/FloridaLeisure and hit the “Like” button and then the  “Sweepstakes” tab to enter our competition. You could then be the lucky winner of a fabulous 4 night Orlando vacation.

It’s nice to stop and watch what goes on around you sometimes. I was again reminded about why we do what we do and what we provide to families, friends and guests… I think this short video explains it all. Not much else needs to be said.

Kissimmee Vacation Homes in Orlando

By Nigel G. Worrall

One of the most popular vacation destinations in the world is Orlando, Florida. A huge reason why so many people visit this part of the world is because of the Walt Disney World resort and its theme parks. Walt Disney World resort is the world’s largest recreational resort and is located in both Lake Buena Vista and Kissimmee.

Kissimmee is located on the southern part of the Disney complex and it’s here that you’ll find most of the areas vacation rental homes.  There are many advantages for renting a vacation home in Kissimmee but number one amongst them is the ability to enjoy a luxurious yet affordable vacation. The second reason is the fact that you are just moments away from enjoying the Disney experience as well as all the other local theme parks such as Sea World and Universal Orlando, not to mention all the other attractions that the area has to offer.

A stay in a vacation home is simply a far more luxurious vacation than compared to staying in a hotel. The home is far more inviting and has much more space than the typical hotel room or suite. You can relax in private without worrying about noisy neighbors, you have your own private pool to splash around in and you have an element of privacy that you just can’t get at a hotel.

Most vacation rental homes are conveniently located in quiet residential communities but just moments from the main area theme parks.  A Kissimmee vacation home offers many perks that a hotel simply cannot. Things such as large screen TV’s, separate bedrooms, games rooms, home theaters, and two or maybe three large living areas top the list.

Cost is also a major consideration and if you are traveling with a large family then putting them up in several hotel rooms can get very expensive.  Depending on the size of your family, you can rent a house with three bedrooms, or more, for around the same price of one hotel room and it is certainly a far better option than trying to cram everyone in to one hotel room. Just imagine the convenience of not having to wait for your turn to use the bathroom or watching what someone else wants to watch on TV as vacation homes usually have TV’s in each bedroom.

One major drawback of hotels is the fact that most hotel pools are situated outside in the open air and that means you may soon be the target of annoying insects or bugs. Each vacation rental house comes with a screened in lanai and pool area that prevents annoying pests from attacking you and this means all the family can enjoy relaxing and unwinding in comfort.

A fully functioning kitchen is also another benefit of vacationing in a rental home. Going out for every meal soon gets tiring not to mention very expensive. Vacation homes give you far more options than a hotel with a solitary restaurant that opens when the hotel says it will open.  Naturally, you might fancy a lie in one morning and a kitchen allows you to eat what you want, when you want to eat it so there’s no missing breakfast. In fact, it’s just like being at home as you can get groceries from local stores and enjoy the feeling of being home away from home.

Vacation homes are also great places to come home to after a busy day at a theme park or visiting some local attraction. Sometimes you might just fancy a quiet night in and nothing can be better than ordering a pizza or cooking a sumptuous meal for the ones you love at the end of a busy day.  Each vacation home is usually equipped with everything you might need for cooking and baking and preparing a meal on vacation is just one way to involve the whole family and have some fun.

Talking of family fun, most vacation homes also have a whole host of amenities that include cable TV, DVD players, broadband internet, video game systems, pool tables and a whole lot more for all the family to enjoy. Sometimes you may find that you’ll just not want to go out and that you just want to enjoy a day at home. Vacation home rentals really do give you lots of space to move around and live in and it’s not uncommon to feel like a King or Queen in a palace when you take a vacation in a rental home.

In fact, those that choose to vacation this way rarely go back to hotels afterwards so if you haven’t stayed in a vacation home before, this really is something you need to look into before your next trip.

Ever wanted to play golf but it’s been too dark to play? Years ago we’d have been laughing at the suggestion you could play golf at night without floodlights but today it’s a realistic possibility. Since it’s introduction a few years ago “Glow In The Dark Golf” has become pretty popular and now its coming to my own local course, Kissimmee Oaks, here in Kissimmee, Orlando on Friday 13th August.

For those of you not familiar with the game then you’ll need to know it’s very popular with mini golf and regular golfers alike. The “glow in the dark” golf balls are not just some gimmick but are professional night golf balls which are designed for everything from long drives to gentle putting.  Combined with glow in the dark glow sticks that surround the green and the hazards, you can actually enjoy a great round of golf no matter what time of day.

The 1st ever “Glow in the Dark” Golf event to be held at Kissimmee Oaks Golf Club will be at 8.30pm on Friday August 13th and the cost is $35. The Entry Fee covers 9 holes of golf, green fee, cart fee, 2 Glow balls, Prizes and Giveaways, Golf Course and Cart set up and a whole lot of fun!

You can register with us at Florida Leisure Vacation Homes by calling 1-800-760-1114 or direct at Kissimmee Oaks on 407 933 4055 and if you mention “Glow in the Dark – Florida Leisure” you’ll even enjoy a discount on the $35 price.

So, don’t miss this opportunity to play in Kissimmee Oaks FIRST EVER “Glow in the Dark” night golf event. The field is limited to the first 72 players to register.

We learned more about next years opening of Legoland Florida yesterday and it promises to be a fun filled park with lots to see and do with many of the highlights being similar to the ones featured in the Southern California park.

For a start there will be the Fun Town Fire Academy, a driving school, a Duplo play area for younger guests, and a medieval-themed Legoland Castle. The emphasis will be on interactive amusements for young children as they explore  the Land of Adventure, with is dinosaur-themed wooden roller coaster and the Factory Tour, which will show how Lego plastic building blocks are actually made.  Lego said the park will feature more than 50 rides, shows and attractions, including thousands of large Lego models.

The park, scheduled to open in the fall of 2011, is being built in Winter Haven on the former Cypress Gardens site. The park is counting on its predecessor’s most-famous features — such as its botanical gardens and water-ski shows — to give Legoland Florida a unique flavor.

Legoland has projected that 2 million people will attend the park in its first year of operation. But it is hoping that annual figure grows to 3 million eventually.

Thousands of people attended the community open house yesterday at the Winter Haven Orange Dome. Those who turned up were mainly curious about the new theme park and the status of the old gardens.  There was also a lot of interest in the  1,000 jobs that Legoland is expected to generate although no employment applications were taken at Thursday’s event.

During the open house, members of the crowd learned about the  planned preservation of the gardens and some of the other traditional entertainment that has featured in previous years when the park was known as Cypress Gardens. Features such as the well renowned ski shows will continue but will get a Lego-like makeover. Unfortunately though, one of Cypress Gardens’ newer additions, the wooden Starliner roller coaster, relocated to the park in 2007 from Panama City, won’t make the cut when Legoland Florida opens.

Hotels vs. Vacation Home Rentals

By Nigel G. Worrall

America is a nation of hotel lovers. When we’re planning a trip the first thing that comes to mind is “Where are we going to stay?” Usually we want somewhere comfortable, somewhere clean and somewhere where all the family can relax. We imagine the perfect vacation or business trip and hope that the hotel can provide us with a nice room and a quick and easy check in / check out process.

Reality is though, that it rarely happens that way. Even when staying at the top hotels in the country something always seems to go wrong whether it be with the hotel itself or with the accommodation. Relaxing it isn’t. Stressful it is. From the time you arrive there is always potential for disaster. From lengthy lines at check in, to actually arriving at your room and finding things not as you planned. It might even be something else around the hotel, like a restaurant, fitness center or the swimming pool being understaffed or worse, closed.

Imagine this scenario; you’re having a large family reunion in Orlando and you’ve tried several hotels in the hope of accommodating you all. You eventually find a hotel that can provide accommodation but you arrive to find that you are spread out all over the place as the hotel couldn’t guarantee to locate you in the same part of the hotel complex let alone on the same floor. It’s a mess and getting everyone together proves impossible.

Traveling as a small family can be just as bad, as many hotels only offer a choice of a room with two Queen sized beds or one King. If you’re taking the kids that means there’s not much privacy for Mom & Pop and then there’s always the constant fights as everyone gets to argue about what to watch on television. It’s even worse when it comes to bedtime as some folks want to sleep and others want to catch the late night movie. In the end someone ends up being frustrated or annoyed.

There is a stress free option though and one that more and more families are finding out about and coming to enjoy experiencing; vacation home rentals.

For around the same money that you would pay at a hotel, you can actually rent a luxurious vacation home that comes equipped with everything you need to make you feel at home. Homes are typically available with anywhere from three to seven separate bedrooms meaning everyone gets their own space to do as they want.  Some homes, particularly in the warmer climates, even have a private heated swimming pool while some homes may have a hot tub or Jacuzzi as well.

Many vacation homes have other great amenities such as large screen TV’s, Xbox or PS2 gaming consoles and even dedicated games rooms with pool, foosball or ping pong tables. All of this means that after a fun filled day out, you can actually enjoy returning home to rest and relax while the kids find plenty to do.

Another major advantage of a vacation rental home is the fact they all come equipped with a full size kitchen. No longer are you dependent on when the restaurant is open or what is on the menu, now you get to pick what you want to eat and when you want to eat it. On occasion dining out is  a nice treat but not everyone wants to go out every meal time and a vacation home gives the option to have a quiet night in and enjoy some home cooking as well as save some cash.

Maybe it’s time to try something different on your next vacation? Vacation rentals are great value and once you’ve stayed in one, you’ll think twice about staying in a hotel again.

Orlando … For FREE!

Traveling anywhere in the world can be an expensive proposition. If you decide to visit Orlando there’s lot of great places to see and fun things to do, but not all of them have to cost an arm and a leg. Here’s 5 things you can do without spending a fortune or if the rain decides to come out to play;

#1. Orlando Malls and Shopping Area

Go shopping! Orlando is a shopper’s paradise and has an eclectic mix of luxury department stores, upscale boutiques antique shops, farmers markets as well as more than twenty major malls to choose from. You can get the perfect gift or souvenir to remember your trip by and you’ll be amazed at some of the bargains you can almost steal. Orlando has some truly great shopping so don’t miss out on a trip to places like Florida Mall, Mall of Millenia, Altamonte Mall, Orlando Fashion Square, Prime Outlets Orlando and Orlando Premium Outlets.

Aside from the malls you can also find numerous smaller boutiques and department stores. A visit to places like Winter Park, Downtown Disney and Sand Lake Road will add to the fun and you’ll truly remember Orlando as being a spectacular destination for some of the finest shopping you will ever experience.

#2. The Orlando Museums

It’s always fun to learn new things and to find out about something you normally wouldn’t have thought about.  Orlando has some fabulous museums and besides being a great place to shelter when the rain comes down, they are also great places to inspire your brain cells and get your creativity buds flowing.

Among the places you’ll want to visit is the Orlando Science Center with its 10 exhibit halls on 4 levels. A place that has something for every member of the family. NatureWorks will get you up close and personal with some of nature’s most fascinating reptiles while DinoDigs will take you back to the prehistoric age. Science Park is the place where you can explore such concepts as electricity, magnetism, lasers, sound waves and nature’s forces while KidsTown has something to amuse the smallest members of the family.

The Orlando Science Center also houses Florida’s largest publicly accessible refractor telescope and a giant screen domed theater for films and planetarium shows.

Orlando Museum of Art is also a fabulous place to visit and you’ll be sure to enjoy its numerous exhibitions on site as well as award winning art enrichment programs and unlimited gallery tours, while  another fine museum to visit is the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College, which features 6,000 objects with the oldest collection in the state of European and American paintings, sculpture and decorative arts.

#3. The Public Libraries

Orlando is also home to many fine public libraries and these are open for everyone to enjoy. The Orlando Public Library is the largest public library building in the state at 290,000 square feet. Library Central is located on the first floor and carries popular items like bestsellers, fiction, DVD’s, music and books on tape or CD. The Children’s Library has large areas for reading, computers and story rooms. The children’s collection includes picture books, kids fiction, Braille books and more.

#4. The Theaters

Orlando is home to many theaters and many productions. Some of them are free and others require a small entrance fee but be sure to check out Orlando Orchestra Symphony and Ballet, The Garden Theater in Winter Garden, Broadway Series at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center, the Mad Cow Theater, Orlando Ballet, Orlando Film Festival and Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

#5. Disney’s BoardWalk

Located near to the Swan and Dolphin hotels is Disney’s BoardWalk. It’s reminiscent of Atlantic City’s own famous wooden pathway and you can sit on benches, stroll along the BoardWalk or just simply enjoy people watching. On any given night you may see a sword swallower, a tarot card reader, a New Orleans style jazz band…you just never know.

Florida is known for its theme parks, warm weather and its thrill a minute environment. The Sunshine State is also a hot place to visit for motorsport enthusiasts as it is home to some of the most important events in the world.

Perhaps one of the most famous races is the Daytona 500, otherwise known as “The Great American Race.” The Daytona 500 usually takes place at Daytona International Speedway at Daytona Beach in February each year and it is the place where 43 of the very best stock car drivers in the world take center stage as they compete in NASCAR’s biggest richest and most prestigious race. The race is 500 miles long and is the opening race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Daytona International Speedway is also home to many other racing events such as the Camping World Truck series for pickup trucks, the Nationwide Series and the Pepsi 400.

Located in the orange groves and cattle ranches of Central Florida is Sebring International Raceway. Sebring is considered America’s premier sports car racing facility by many and is the oldest permanent road racing track in North America. Its most famous race is the annual 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race which is part of the prestigious American Le Mans Series. Every year on the third Saturday of March, the raceway hosts thousands of race fans from around the world to witness the historic 12 hour classic. Many motor racing legends have raced at Sebring; Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio and dozens of other international motor racing legends, who have driven some of the fastest race cars built by the world’s top manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche, Jaguar, Audi, Ford, Maserati, Aston Martin and Nissan.

If you’re looking for Florida’s fastest 1/8 of a mile then you’ll want to visit Lakeland Dragstrip. This is where you’ll find drag racing at its best as all types of vehicles and bikes are put through their paces.

For those wanting to get involved in the action then Walt Disney World Resort has the Richard Petty Experience and this is where you can drive or ride shotgun in true NASCAR-style stock cars which achieve speeds of up to 120mph.

One of the most complete motor sport facilities is The European Rally School & Motorsport Park, based in North Central Florida. They have many different courses to satisfy all tastes. Whether you are in to rallying, high performance driving, ATV, SUV, 4×4, or karting, this place has you covered.

Orlando Speedworld plays host to numerous events throughout the year. Along with the FASCAR Weekly Racing Series, OSW is also home to CRASH-A-RAMA, STUNT WARS, and the annual INEX/600 Racing Winter Nationals.

The FASCAR Weekly Racing Series includes Super Late Models, Limited Late Models, Modifieds, Pro-Trucks and Sportsman that run on a rotating schedule, along with the Super Stocks and Strictly Stocks, which can be seen every Friday night throughout the season.

So, as you can see, if it’s speed you want, there’s plenty of it in Central Florida to thrill and excite you.

Footnote: Indulge me here… this is the motorsport I loved to take part in … and for those of you not familiar with rallying…here’s some in car action with the late Colin McRae in Ireland…

Titanic the Experience, the 20,000 square foot exhibit on International Drive is adding a dinner show every Friday and Saturday night to their traditional tour. The show will be called The Titanic Dinner Event and will include a minimum of 10 actors throughout each evening. The experience will incorporate Capt. E.J. Smith’s retirement party, which was hosted by George and Eleanor Widener of Philadelphia and will take the guests through Titanic’s final moments.

The Dinner Events start July 2, 2010 and continue on Friday and Saturday nights and may expand eventually to five nights per week. Seating will initially be for just 90 people but eventually will be set to 200.

The owner of Titanic The Experience, G. Michael Harris, has led expeditions to the Titanic wreck site and dove to the sunken remains in submersibles more than eight times.

“I am excited for the future of Titanic and work very hard to protect and share history for future generations,” said Harris. “This will bring an added value and increase our vision of an ever expanding experience. Although there are many Orlando dinner attractions, we are confident that we can deliver first class quality food within the back drop of our exhibit.”

The main course will consist of offerings such as roasted sirloin and chicken breast that are very similar to menu items from the Titanic. Beverages will include soda, iced tea and coffee after dinner. The show takes place throughout the entire exhibit and performers may be seated at your table for dinner.

“We hope to have the element of food throughout the day, with a lunch, an afternoon tea, and The Dinner Event”, said David Walker, vice president and acting general manager. “We will be patient in this new endeavor and as the world’s economy continues to improve we will be ready to make this a part of the attraction experience every day.

Tickets for The Titanic Dinner Event are $64.95 per adult, $39.95 for each child 6 to 11 years old. Visit titanicdinnerevent.com for more information. Regular tours will be held from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on non-dinner show days, and until 7 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.